Virtual Rabbit
| Virtual Rabbit | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
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| Studio album by Susumu Hirasawa | ||||
| Released | May 25, 1991 | |||
| Recorded | 1991 | |||
| Studio |
Various
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| Genre | ||||
| Length | 32:06 | |||
| Label | Polydor K.K. | |||
| Producer |
Susumu Hirasawa Yūichi Kenjo | |||
| Susumu Hirasawa chronology | ||||
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Virtual Rabbit is Susumu Hirasawa's third album. It is the final part of a trilogy, with Water in Time and Space being the first, and The Ghost in Science being the second. It explores reality, religion, science, and dreams.
Overview
The album's liner notes include a 2-page long "Virtual Rabbit Story", which was written by Hirasawa, the liner notes also include a note saying that the listener is free to rearrange the order of the songs if s/he so wishes, something that Hirasawa would later repeat with Sim City 4 years later. Hirasawa has said that this album is reminiscent of the novel The Martian Chronicles.
This album goes in the same style as its previous albums (mix and experimentation of various different music styles), although it has a more epic feel than the others, with compositions with multiple parts more in line with his later solo work and a larger focus on orchestral styled instrumentation. With this album, Hirasawa continues to digitize his production methods, winding down even more on guest musicians, now mostly reduced to additional vocalists. There is no live percussion on this album, all drumming is Hirasawa with a Yamaha RX-5.
This was the first Hirasawa album to be engineered by Masanori Chinzei, who has since worked as engineer on everything Hirasawa has worked on. A significant number of songs from this album were used in the Original video animation series DETONATOR Orgun, whose music was composed by Hirasawa.
Track listing
All songs written and composed by Susumu Hirasawa, except "Bandiria Travellers" with string & choral arrangement by Hirasawa & Kayo "Kokubo" Matsumoto.
| No. | Title | Length | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | "Stormy Sea (嵐の海 Arashi no Umi)" | 3:32 | |
| 2. | "Bandiria Travellers (バンディリア旅行団 Bandiria Ryōkōdan)" | 5:00 | |
| 3. | "Hawk In My Heart, Don't Take The Moon Away [Planet Eagle] (我が心の鷲よ 月を奪うな[プラネット・イーグル] Waga Shin no Washi yo, Tsuki o Ubau na [Puranetto Īguru])" | 3:31 | |
| 4. | "Virtual Rabbit (ヴァーチュアル・ラビット Vāchuaru Rabitto)" | 3:15 | |
| 5. | "Please Push "UNDO" Key (UNDOをどうぞ UNDO wo Dōzo)" | 4:08 | |
| 6. | "Clear Mountain Top (山頂晴れて Sanchō Harete)" | 4:09 | |
| 7. | "Quiet Sea (静かの海 Shizuka no Umi)" | 3:25 | |
| 8. | "Immortal Man (死のない男 Shi no Nai Otoko)" | 2:56 | |
| 9. | "A Tree Of Sun (太陽の木 Taiyō no Ki)" | 5:55 | |
| 10. | "Russian Tobiscope (ロシアン・トビスコープ Roshian Tobisukōpu)" | 1:55 |
Track information
- Stormy Sea
Made in the style of P-MODEL openers.
- A live version played at the TOKYO Paranesian INTERACTIVE LIVE SHOW was included in the making of tokyo paranesian video.
- Another live version played on the first show of Hirasawa's PHONON2550 tour at the LIQUIDROOM ebisu live house was included in the PHONON 2550 LIVE album. A studio recording of this version, with an extended intro, was included in the The Method of the LIVE 2: The Magic for introduction.
- Bandiria Travellers
- Remixed as Bandiria Travellers [Physical Navigation Version], which was released as Hirasawa's second single; used as the ending theme song to Birth, the first episode of DETONATOR Orgun; included on DETONATOR Orgun 1, the soundtrack of that episode, Disc 1 of the HALDYN DOME box set, together with Water in Time and Space and the best of album Archetype | 1989-1995 Polydor years of Hirasawa.
- Remade in a symphonic, orchestral, string-oriented style as part of "The Aggregated Past KANGENSHUGI 8760 HOURS" project, this version was released on the Hen-Gen-Ji-Zai album, where Hirasawa added an electronic intro and slightly altered the guitar solo to the song; this version of the song had 3 sketches released by Hirasawa on the Kangen Shugi website as he worked on it;[1][2][3] this version was also released as a free MP3 on Hirasawa's website.[4]
- Live versions were included on the HIRASAWA error ENGINE - Hirasawa Three Acts in Three Hours～Lower, SIM CITY TOUR and Tokyo I-jigen Kudou videos.
- Hawk In My Heart, Don't Take The Moon Away [Planet Eagle]
The ending of this song is "Fanfare", released on the Model House Works tape included with the first issue of the "Moire Club" newsletter.
- Re-arranged in 2003 in the style of the BLUE LIMBO album, incorporating elements from the song VILES IMPERIAL from the Glory Wars image album, for the Interactive Live Show 2003 LIMBO-54 as Planet Eagle 2003. This version was included in the nano-duplication memorials MP3 release, it was played on all shows, with the fourth and last one being released as the Interactive Live Show 2003 LIMBO-54 video.
- Virtual Rabbit
- Remixed by Hirasawa in the P-MODEL style for the SOLAR RAY album as Virtual Rabbit 2.
- A live version played on the Third Act of the ERROR ENGINE Hirasawa 3 Curtains, 3 Hours show was included in the HIRASAWA error ENGINE - Hirasawa Three Acts in Three Hours～Lower video.
- Please Push "UNDO" Key
A continuation of the storyline of QUIT from the The Ghost in Science album.
- Elements of this song were incorporated in "Fukō Part Three" (不幸 其の参 Fukō Sono San) by Fukō Project (不幸のプロジェクト Fukō no Purojekuto), an experimental collaboration between Hirasawa and 4-D mode1/P-MODEL member Kenji Konishi from the album How about FUKO? (不幸はいかが? Fukō wa ika ga?).
- Clear Mountain Top
A bit of the song played backwards was included in the P-MODEL song "Power to Dream" from the album Fune.
- Live versions were included in the HIRASAWA error ENGINE - Hirasawa Three Acts in Three Hours～Lower, PHONON 2550 VISION and PHONON 2553 VISION videos.
- Quiet Sea
Made in the style of Andean folk that is prominent throughout the trilogy.
- Immortal Man
Made in the same style as Amor Buffer from the The Ghost in Science album.
- Its horn section was used on ZODDO II from the BERSERK ~Hawk of the Millennium Empire Arc: Chapter of the Lost Flowers~ Original Game Soundtrack.
- A live version played on the Second Act of the HIRASAWA error ENGINE - Hirasawa Three Acts in Three Hours show was included in the HIRASAWA error ENGINE - Hirasawa Three Acts in Three Hours～Upper video. Another live version played on Hirasawa's PHONON2550 tour at the LIQUIDROOM ebisu live house was included in the PHONON 2550 LIVE album and the PHONON 2550 VISION live video.
Personnel
- Susumu Hirasawa - Vocals, Guitars, Synthesizers, Sampler, Drum machine, Computer programming/Programming, Acoustic Piano on "Hawk In My Heart, Don't Take The Moon Away [Planet Eagle]", Toy Accordion on "Virtual Rabbit", AMIGA 2500 ("Say" program - Narration on "Please Push "UNDO" Key"), Auto Harp on "Quiet Sea", Production
- Tokyo Philharmonic Chorus - Backing Vocals on "Bandiria Travellers"
- Teru Uchida Strings - Strings on "Bandiria Travellers"
- Toshihiko "BOB" Takahashi (courtesy of Alfa Records) - Fretless Bass on "Hawk In My Heart, Don't Take The Moon Away [Planet Eagle]" and "A Tree Of Sun", Backing Vocals on "Please Push "UNDO" Key" and "Clear Mountain Top"
- Osamu Takeuchi and Chuju Yamaguchi - Backing Vocals on "Virtual Rabbit", "Please Push "UNDO" Key" and "Clear Mountain Top"
- Yasuchika Fujii and Kazuhiko Fujii (courtesy of Alfa Records) - Backing Vocals on "Please Push "UNDO" Key" and "Clear Mountain Top"
- Mamoru Kikuchi (credited as "WONDER WHO?") - Narration/Old Man's Voice on "Please Push "UNDO" Key"
- Jun Togawa (courtesy of Tōshiba EMI) - Vocals on "Clear Mountain Top"
- Masanori Chinzei - Engineering, Backing Vocals on "Virtual Rabbit", "Please Push "UNDO" Key" and "Clear Mountain Top"
- Yūichi Kenjo - Production (Executive), Backing Vocals on "Virtual Rabbit", "Please Push "UNDO" Key" and "Clear Mountain Top"
Release history
| Date | Label(s) | Format | Catalog | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| May 25, 1991 | Polydor K.K. | CD | POCH-1084 | |
| July 1, 2005 | Universal Music Japan, Universal Sigma | Digital Download | none | |
| February 29, 2012 | Chaos Union, Teslakite | CD | CHTE-0056 | Remastered by Masanori Chinzei. Part of Disc 3 of the HALDYN DOME box set, alongside "Haldyn Hotel [Fractal Terrain Track]". |
| September 24, 2014 | Universal Music Japan | SHM-CD | UPCY-6911 | Part of Universal's "Project Archetype" (supervised by Osamu Takeuchi & Kasiko Takahasi). Remastered by Kenji Yoshino (supervised by Chinzei) with both original liner notes and new ones.[5] |
- "Stormy Sea", "Bandiria Travellers", "Virtual Rabbit" and "Clear Mountain Top" were included on the Root of Spirit～ESSENCE OF HIRASAWA SOLO WORKS～ compilation.
- "Stormy Sea", "Bandiria Travellers [Physical Navigation Version]", "Virtual Rabbit" and "Clear Mountain Top" were included on the Archetype | 1989-1995 Polydor years of Hirasawa compilation.
References
- ↑ Hirasawa, Susumu. "「バンディリア旅行団」スケッチ １". The Aggregated Past KANGENSHUGI 8760 HOURS. Chaos Union.
- ↑ Hirasawa, Susumu. "「バンディリア旅行団」スケッチ ２". The Aggregated Past KANGENSHUGI 8760 HOURS. Chaos Union.
- ↑ Hirasawa, Susumu. "「バンディリア旅行団」スケッチ 3". The Aggregated Past KANGENSHUGI 8760 HOURS. Chaos Union.
- ↑ "NO ROOM - 『変弦自在』より「バンディリア旅行団 」 - Downloads". TESLAKITE FREE MP3s. Chaos Union.
- ↑ Takeuchi, Osamu. "wilsonic works 41". wilsonic journal. Retrieved 15 November 2014.
External links
- Virtual Rabbit at MusicBrainz
- Virtual Rabbit at NO ROOM - The official site of Susumu Hirasawa (P-MODEL)
- Virtual Rabbit at iTunes Japan
- Virtual Rabbit at amazon.co.jp
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